Magazine for firearms



Sept. 4, 1945. J. vEsELY 2,333,998,

MAGAZ INE FOR FIREARMS Filed Aug. 5, 1943 l2 Sheets-Sheet l By l.

Allorney sept. 4, '1945. Jf VESELY 2,383,998

MAGAZINE FOR FIREARMS Filed Aug. 5, 1943 2 Sheets-,Sheet 2 Inventor L4 Attorney Patented Sept. 4, 1945 UNITED STATES MAGAZINE FOR FIREARMS JosefVesel/,l London, England Application August s, 194s, serial No. 497,447

' In Great Britain August 14, 1942 4 Claims.

The present invention relates to magazines for rearms, and moreparticularly to magazines for automatic weapons such as, for example,submachine guns wherein two or more channels or compartments areprovided in the magazine one behind the other in the longitudinaldirection of 'the cartridges for the reception of two or more groups ofcartridges, one group being arranged .in each channel or compartment,and the cartridges being adapted to be fed from the magazine into thegun in thedirectionof their axes under. the action of a reciprocatingfeed member, for example,y the breech block of the gun.

`'The invention may be applied to magazines-'of this kind whether theyare of the box or 'drum or other type and irrespective of whether themagazine is arrangedunder, above, or at the side of the breech of thegun; also the magazine according to the linvention is suitable for vusewith any type of ammunition.

to magazines such as are described inv thecspecifica-tion of mycoepending patent application, Serial No. 427,957 of January 23, 1942irSuch a magazine briefly and broadly speaking comprises an elongatedbox-like casing of rectangular crosssection having two compartments(although there could be more than two) arrangedone behind the other andeach adapted to. receive a group or pile of cartridges, each group orpile consisting either of a single column of. cartridges'or of two sideby sidecolumns of cartridges1 the cartridges of one column in the lattercase alternating position or being laterally offset with those of the.other column oi the same group. In such la magazine the. frontcompartment of the casing is. provided at its breech end. and in itsfront wall withI a cartridge discharge mouth or openingthrough whichcartridges are fed axially (in the direction of their own axes) intothegun. The magazinev casing. is partially open at its breech chamber end,i. e. the end disposed in the body of the gun, and the cartridges ofeach pile or group are fed along the length. of :the magazine (more orless perpendicular tothe axis of the breech chamber) to. the breech endthereof by spring urged feeders arranged in the. ksaid compartments, andthe arrangementr is such that a reciprocating cartridge feeding memberi.e.. g. the breech block of they gun, feeds all the can tridges-r one ata time, fromlthe forward group in the magazine before feeding those inthe rearwardcompartment or compartments of the magaa zine, means `(forinstance those; described in the specification,` of my said applicationSeriat No.

427,957) being provided to `depress upper cartridges in this or theserearward compartments to enable thebreech block to slide over them andthrough the breech end of the magazine casing to feed the cartridges ofthe front group axially into the` gun. In the said magazine the breech i.29 However, the invention is especiallyapplicabl'e end of the magazinecasing is provided with incurved longitudinal guide lips to prevent thecartridge leaving the casing. in a direction ltransverse t0 their axesunder the pressure of the feeders and to guide the cartridgesto themouth of the magazine as they are fed axiall'yvforwards by thereciprocating feed member. In the case of a magazine in which each groupof cartridges contains two columns as above mentioned, the cartridgedischarge mouth of. the magazine may be offset from the longitudinalcentral plane of the magazine casing and the latter may be provided withguide surfaces to urge the cartridges of that column of cartridges. ineach compartment, which isnot in alignment with .the discharge mouth ofthe magazine,. laterally into position into alignment with the dischargemouth. l

`With magazines of the form described in the last paragraph, and whichwilt for the purposev of brevity, hereinafter be spoken of asboxmagazines of the kind referred to, it has been found that jamming ofthe cartridges sometimes occurs when feeding fromA the front compartmentof the magazine. Investigation of this failure has shown that as aresult of the friction between the reciprocating feed member, i.. e. therecoiling breech block, where that is the reciprocating feed member ofthe gun, and the uppermost cartridge (over which the breech block slideson recoiling) inthe front compartment of the magazine, the saiduppermost front cartridge is liable to `be pulled back'wards or eventilted thus causing jamming of the-gun.

An object of this invention .is to overcome this drawback of the earliermagazines and at the same time to provide improved means for guiding thecartridges from the rearward compartment or compartments of the magazinein their axial movement to the front compartment and the gun barrel. Afurther object of the invention is to provide an improved and moreeicient magazme. v

yAcording 'to the invention there is. provided a magazine for firearmsof the kindy adapted to contain lat least two groups of cartridgesarranged one behind the other in the longitudinal direction of thecartridges and for discharge therefrom one at a time in an axialdirection by a reciprocating feed member on the rearm,

the groups of cartridges being discharged in succession commencing withthe front group, wherein means are provided for supporting and retainingthe leading cartridge against backward axial movement in the magazineunder the action of the reciprocating feed member of the firearm duringits return stroke,

In a magazine having only two compartments arranged one behind the othersuch cartridge supporting or retaining means would be provided forpreventing the leading cartridge or cartridges of the front compartmentfrom moving backwardly, but where more than two compartments areprovided one behind the other said cartridge supporting or retainingmeans would be provided for all compartments except the rearmost one.

Preferably the said supporting or retaining means comprise a stop memberadapted to abut the base or bases of the cartridge or cartridgesuppermost in the magazine compartment directly in front of such stopmember.

According to a further feature of the invention the said cartridgesupporting or retaining means.

also preferably include or serve as means for assisting in guiding,along their discharge paths and over the feeder or feeders of apreceding compartment or compartments, cartridges being fed forwardlyfrom a compartment to the rear of the front compartment of the magazine.

The said supporting or retaining means are preferably movabletransversely of the axes of the cartridges (i. e., their direction offeed) in a plane passing through the bases of the upper cartridges ofthe two or more columns in front of, the retaining or supporting means,and such plane being parallel to the axes of the said cartridges. Makingthe said supporting or retaining means movable in this way permits theready dit-:charge of a cartridge from a rearward compartment to and overthe feeder of the compartment or compartments in front thereof.

'I'he said cartridge supporting or retaining means may convenientlycomprise a sto-p adapted to engage the bases of the cartridge orcartridges in front of the stop, 'such stop being movable transverselyof the axis or axesof said cartridges (i. e. transversely of the lengthof the magazine) and transversely of the direction of movement of thespring urged cartridge feeders of the magazine.

which it is attached or with which it is made integrally, and such stemor blade may be secured at the other end to, or be made integrally with,the cartridge magazine preferably near the breech end thereof. Toprevent any undesirable deilection of the stop in the direction of thelength of the magazine (i. e., in the direction of movement of the saidfeeders) interengaging means may be provided on the magazine wall andthe stop, such interengaging means leaving the stop free to make therequired movement in the lateral or transverse direction. Theinterengage ing means may, for example, comprise a rib or flange on awall or partition portion of the magazine casing which engages in agroove or over a flange provided upon the stop, or the arrangement maybe vice versa, so that whilst the stop is permitted to move crosswisewith respect to the cartridges it is unableto move in any otherdirection.

Where the cartridges are arranged and emerge from the magazinecompartmentin two or more substantially side by side columns thetransversev The said stop may, for example, be carried at one end of aspring stem or blade to Width of the said transversely movable stopshould be such as t0 ensure that the stop will positively engage thebases of both the right and the left-hand cartridges in the compartmentof the magazine in front of the stop and the stop should be elasticallymounted so as to be capable of being laterally deflected by a cartridgeto the rear of it during the passage of this cartridge from onecompartment of the magazine to the next compartment in front of it.Moreover, whether each compartment has a single or double column groupof cartridges, the stop should yieldingly press the leading cartridge ofa rear compartment being fed forwardly against the guiding surface ofthe magazine, thus securing correct feed of the cartridge. The stopshould preferably also be suitably shaped at the side which comes intocontact with the longiv tudinal surfaces of the cartridges so asproperly to engage such cartridges.

In order that the invention may be thoroughly understood and readily becarried into practice drawings are appended hereto and illu-strate oneembodiment of the invention and a modification of that embodiment, byway of example, and in these drawings:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary view showing, in partial verticalcross-section, a magazine constructed in accordance with this inventionattached t0 the body of a submachine gun;

Figure 2 is a plan vie-w of the magazine according to the invention,this magazine being shown as having its rear and front compartmentsfully loaded with cartridges;

`Figure 3 is a view similar to Figure 2 showing the front compartment ofthe magazine completely exhausted and a cartridge being fed forwardlyfrom the rear magazine; I

Figure 4 is a View similar to Figure 3 but shows a cartridge stillfurther advanced in its forward movement;

Figure 5 is a rear elevation of the upper part of the magazine;

Figure 6 is a front elevation of the upper part of the magazine;

Figure 7 is a side elevation of the upper portion of the magazine;

Figure 8 is a plan view of a modified form of the magazine constructedin accordance lwith the invention.

Referring to Figures l to 6 of the drawings it will be seen that themagazine is a box-magazine of the kind referred to consisting of anelongated casing I formed of sheet metal and of rectangular shape incross-section. The front and rear transverse walls 2 and 3 of thiscasing are parallel, and centrally between them the casing has apartition wall 4 which is parallel to the front and rear walls 2 and 3and divides the magazine casing into two compartments, a frontcompartment 5 and a rear compartment 6 of similar form.

The bottom of the magazine is closed by a removable slide-on cover plateI retained releasably in position by means of a protuberance 8 on aplate 9 and engaging in a hole ID in the cover plate '1. The plate 9 isacted upon by a feed spring II in the rear compartment 6 andv thisspring carries, at its upper end, a cartridge feeder I2 of approximatelyinverted U-shape.

In the front compartment 5 of the magazine casing is arranged a furtherfeed spring I3, similar to the feed spring I I, which bears, at itslower end, upon the cover plate 'I and, at its upper'end, carries afurther cartridge feeder I4 of hollow form but having its upper .surfaceshaped to provide cartridge guiding surfaces. As will Vbe seen from thedrawings, and particularly from Figures' 1 and 6, the top surface of thefeeder .i4 is steppedV so as to have two surfaces I and I6 at'diierentlevels, the. surface I5 being., higher than the surface I6 and thev twosurfaces being joined -by an inclined surface II. The rear ends of thesurfaces I5 and l'incline or curve down. wardly as shown at I8 and I9(Figure l) and the surface I5 is rounded off at its front end as show at20. (Figure 1). f

At its upper or breech chamber end 2| the magazine casing I is open'andits front wall 2 is prow vided, at the breech chamber end, With-acartridge discharge opening 22 through which cartridges may be fed inthe direction of their axes on to a, cartridge guide 23 which leads thecartridge into the barrel of the gun.

At the open end 2| of the magazine casing the latter is provided, on itslongitudinal side walls 22 and 25 with inturned guide lips. Thus, as isclearly seen from the drawings, the longitudinal `side wall 25 of themagazine is provided, at the upper end of the front compartment 5, withan at V28 and, like the lip 26, out away atf29, /The cutting away at 2Sof: the lips 26 and 2l is to facilitate the discharge ofthecartridgesfrom the magazine and the gap 28 in the lip. 21 isl toprovide for the operation Iof mechanism hereinbefore referred to formaintaining the cartridges in the rear compartment 6 depressed duringthefeeding of the cartridges in the front compartment of the gun. Y

.The rear .portion of the. longitudinalside wall 25 of the magazinecasing I is` also provided with an inwardly curved portion 30 commencingsome little distance down the wall as is clearly seen, for example,V inFigures 2 to 4, 5 and '7. Forming the wall in this way provides, on theinterior of the magazine, a guide surface for urging cartridges towardsthe opposite wall 24 of the magazine as the cartridges move towards theupper end thereof. Forming the wall 25 with the incurvedl portion asabove described also provides the magazine with a 'small approximatelyright-angled triangular-shaped transverse partition or web 3.1 and thispartition has a flange 32 parallel to the top edge of the magazine andextending from 'the central partition i a short distance rearwardly.

The central partition 4 of the magazine casing terminates short of thelupper end .of the latter and is provided, as clearly seen in Figure 6,with a semi-circular recess33 which extends from the longitudinal sidewall 24 of the magazine casing approximately half way across thepartition. This recess is to facilitate the passage of cartridges fromthe rear compartment 6 of the magazine to the front compartment 5.

-The magazine illustrated in Figures 1 to 6 of the drawings is intendedto receive, in each of its compartments 5 and 5, a group or pile ofcartridges, each group or pile consisting of two co1- umns of cartridgesarranged with the cartridges of one column slightly staggered andalternating with the cartridges of the other column. Thus, as thecartridges are fed upwards towards the breech chamber end of themagazine casing, in the case of the lfront compartment the cartridgesare successively fed, by the co-operation of the cartridges, the feederle and the lips 26 and 21,

into the position which the cartridge marked 34 is shown in Figure 2ofthe drawings'. This-is therefore vthe leading. cartridge in themagazine and to one side of it and; slightly below is disposed thesecond cartridgea in the magazine. When the magazine is fulLvas showninFig. 2, other cartridges are arranged directly'belowthe cartridscs 34and 35 `andthe rear compartment "is fully of cartridges..l i

In the embodiment of the invention yillustrated in the drawings relianceis placed on the..action of the reciprocating breech block (not shown)of the. gun 36 for feeding the cartridges into. the barrel 31 and itwill be understood clearly from Figure 1 that itis necessary, whilst thecartridges of the front compartment 5 are being discharged, to retainthe cartridges in the rear compartment B depressed below the level ofthe breech block so that these cartridges do not interferewith theaction of thevbreech block, upon the cartridgesin thefront. compartment5. This may be effected,

' forexample, as previously explained hereinl by f any'of the meansdescribed in my copending TLS.

axis on to the. guide member 23 by,which itisy deflected upwardly intothe barrel`3'I. `'Whenthe cartridge 34 has .left ythe magazine a newcar,- tridge, such as 35, takes the uppermostplacein the magazinecompartment but on the other side, i. e. if the cartridge 34 has beenonthe left hand side of thec'ompartment (asshown inFig. 2) thenextluppermost cartridge such as 351will lie on the right hand side, sothat the position shown in Fig. `2 will be restored .symmetrically ytothe longitudinal axis of the compartment. .On the return movement ofthe. breech block, however, there is a, tendency for the breechb1ock,'due to frictional engagement with the cartridge. in the positionof cartridge 34, to cause thiscartridge .to slide backwardlyin an axialdirection from vthe frontcompartment 5 of the magazine towards the rearcompartment E. and this, as. previously explained, is` liable to jamthegun or interfere with its proper functioning. The frictional engage'-ment of the cartridge, suoli-as` 34, with theother cartridge, such as35, also tends to cause the latter cartridge to move out of its properposition and in a .rearward direction, should the cartridge 3.4 be freeto` move rearwardly under theaction of the recoi-ling` breech. block.'Ihereforeto' obviate these dangers a stop. 38 -is providedand comprisesa flat piece of metal constituting a heel of approximately right-angledtriangular form 39.v which is formedintegrally with aspring stem 49,having itsA rear end encircled and gripped by acylindrically-,turned-overportion 4I of the. longitudinal side wall 25of the magazine casing, clearly seen in end view in Figures 5 and 6. Thespring stem 40 lies longitudinally along the upper edge of the inwardlycurved portion 30 of the side wall 25 of the magazine casing, andthespring stem is incapable of movement in the direction either of theaxial feed of the cartridges or of side walls 24 and 25 ofthe magazinecasing and is, when there is more than one cartridge in the frontcompartment 5, adapted' to engage behind the bases of both the right andthe left-hand upper cartridges in the front compartment of the magazineas is clearly shown in Figure 2 of the drawings. As explained above thecartridge 35 lies a little below the cartridge 34. The stop 38 thussupports the bases of' the cartridges 34 and 35 or `the base of thecartridge 34 alone when it is the last cartridge in the frontcompartment 5, and prevents these cartridges or this cartridge frombeing moved backwardly in an axial directionv during the recoil of thebreech block.

The-inner edge 42 of theA stop 38 is preferably contoured so as to moreor less match the shape of the noses of the cartridges being used in themagazine, so that as a rear cartridgeV 43 moves Yfrom the position shownin Figure 2 (after the complete discharge of cartridges from the frontcompartment 5 has been effected) the resilient stop engages rst againstthe nose of the cartridge and then along its longitudinal surface asshown in Figure 3 to assist in guiding the cartridge in its axialmovement and to maintain it in contact with the guide lip 21 of themagazine casing, and as the stop 38 is arranged to move transversely ofthe magazinel in a plane passing through the longitudinal axis of theuppermost cartridges in the magazine, the action of the stop is to urgea cartridge, such as 43, horizontally acrossthe magazine` At the sametime, however, thek yielding characterof the stop 38 ensures that thestop will not impede the movement of the cartridge from the rear to thefront compartment of the magazine.

To ensure that the stop 38 may not move in any direction other thantransversely across the magazine, and particularly to ensure that it maynot be moved in the direction of the length of the magazine, means areprovided positively to constrain the stop to its transverse line ofmovement, such means comprising a groove or channel 44 provided on theunderside of the heel part 39 of the stop for the reception of theforward edge 'portion' of the flange 32 previously referred to whichserves to lguide the stop 38 in its movement and to constrain it tomovement only in a direction transverseto the length of the magazine.

In the embodiment of the magazine shown in Figure 8 the arrangement isthe same as that alreadydescribed with the exception that the magazineis narrowerl from side to side than the magazine shown in Figures 1 to6, as this magazine is intended to contain, in its front and rearcompartments, only a single column of cartridges instead of a doublecolumn as shown in the other iigures. Since the parts are all the samein form as those already described the same references have been used onthis figure as in the other iigures.

It should, of course, be understood that, although certain embodimentsof the invention have beendescribed in some detail above for the purposeof illustrating how the invention may be carried into practice, theinvention is not restricted to the particular form of the magazine andstop means above described, since the form of the magazine and the stopmay be modied without departing from the scope of the invention ashereinafter claimed.

I claim:

1. A cartridge magazine for rearms comprising an elongated rectangularbox-like casing containing two compartments arranged one behind theother in the axial direction of the cartridges and each constructed toreceive a group of cartridges piled upon one another in theircompanment, each compartment being open at the breech end of themagazine and having guide lip means to retain the cartridges againstdischarge from the magazine transversely of their axes and to guide theVcartridges axially in their passage, under the action of areciprocating feed member of the rearm moving parallel to the axes ofsaid cartridges, to a discharge mouth provided at the front and breechend of the magazine, feeding means to urge said cartridges towards thebreech end of the magazine, stop means arranged behind the irontcompartment of the magazine and at the breech end of the latter, aresilient-stem having its rear end secured to said magazine at adistance rearwardly from said front compartment and extending forwardlyadjacent one sideof the uppermost cartridge in said rear compartment andsubstantially in a transverse plane containing the axis of saiduppermost cartridge, and a heel portion on the front end of saidresilient stem including an abutment face normally located directlybehind the rear end of the uppermost cartridge in said iront compartmentt0 prevent any backward movement of such cartridge, and means to preventsaid stop means from carrying out any movements except in saidtransverse plane.

2. A magazine for firearms according to claim 1, wherein the saidresilient stem is anchored to the magazine by a portion of the wallthereof encircling the stem.

3. A cartridge magazine, as claimed in claim l, in which said heelportion of said stop means is provided with a cam surface to eiect atemporary transverse displacement of said stop means when a cartridge isvadvanced from said rear compartment to said front compartment.

4. vA cartridge magazine, as claimed in claim 1, in which said means toprevent said stop means from carrying out any movements except in saidtransverse plane includes a transverse flange on said magazine extendingpartially across the latter, said transverse flange engaging atransverse groove provided in said heel portion of said stop means toguide the latter positively for movements in said plane.

JOSEF vEsELY.

